by Simon, Coco
“So how’s your new job?” I asked, propping my chin in my hand. “Give me all the deets.”
Mom started filling me in on all the details of the characters she worked with, and the sections of the store that she managed (cooking and fiction), and where she went on her breaks. She told me that she saw a few cookbooks that had some cupcake recipes I might like. It felt good to just be relaxing in the kitchen. I wasn’t worried about babysitting Jake or walking Jenner or how much things cost. I was just happy to be with my mom, eating pancakes. It was like it used to be.
“So today’s the day I’m going to the mall with Mia and her mom and all the CC girls to look for the dress,” I said. I wasn’t sure where I was headed with this. I had filled Mom in on the exciting junior bridesmaid news already.
“Ooh! What fun!” said Mom. She was quiet for a moment, then she bit her lip. She had that worried look on her face that she seemed to get a lot these days.
“What?” I asked, but I already pretty much knew.
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking,” said Mom.
“Are you wondering how much the dress will cost?” I asked quietly. “Because I have . . .” I gulped. “I have money saved up that I can use.”
“Oh no, sweetheart. It isn’t that at all! Really. And I don’t want you to use your savings on something like that. Not when you’ve worked so hard. That’s for the mixer! Look, we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? You just find a pretty dress today, and then Dad and I will figure it out.”
But what if I found a dress that was too expensive? I was worried. I guess I’m a lot like Mom because the same worried look must have showed on my face. Mom wiped her hands on the worn apron she was wearing and then leaned over, putting her arms around me.
“I love you, muffin, and I don’t want to see you taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. Dad and I can make things work. Okay? It’s not all up to you. Though I appreciate your sensitivity and your work ethic, the most important thing is that you have fun at the store today and on the wedding day. The rest will fall into place, all right?”
I smiled to make her feel better, but I felt awful. I hated seeing Mom so worried. And all for a silly dress. I would just pay for the dress myself. I’d take my cupcake and dog-walking money and use my mixer-fund money to pay for the rest. The mixer could wait. It wasn’t that bad to use the handheld one. I felt a lot better.
Mom turned back to the stove and loaded up another plate of gooey, sweet pancakes. “Hot off the press!” she said. “Enjoy!” and she handed it to me.
“Yum!”
“Now let’s talk about your trip to the bridal store today! What fun!” Mom said. “What color dress do you think you’ll buy?” Mom was excited and suddenly I was too. And we talked about colors and long or short dresses and sashes and bows, and I finished a third plate of pancakes before Matt came downstairs and yelled, “Hey, save some for me!” and Mom got up to get him some too.
The ride to the mall was giggly. We were squished into Mia’s mom’s Mini Cooper, but we didn’t mind. But because of the tight space and the squishing and the fact that we were really excited, we couldn’t stop laughing. Sometimes that happens a lot with us, and we just laugh so hard that we can’t stop.
“What did you cupcake girls eat for breakfast today? Frosting?” asked Mia’s mom with a grin, and this made us all laugh harder. We finally got it together as we walked through the mall and into the store.
The Special Day bridal store made us all quiet. There was a big white door and as soon as you stepped inside, it was like another world. There was thick, plush white carpeting and big white sofas and chairs and pretty roses all over the store, in big pots, in vases, and even hanging from a gleaming chandelier. Everything was quiet, and there was soft music playing. It was the prettiest store I had ever seen.
“Isn’t it incredible?” Mia whispered to me.
“To die for!” I said, using one of Mom’s favorite expressions. And it was.
“Like a fairy tale,” Katie said breathlessly.
“Is this a franchise?” asked Alexis, looking around. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Alexis didn’t have a romantic bone in her body.
Inside, the tall, elegant manager came to the front of the store to meet us with her hands outstretched in a friendly greeting. “Call me Mona,” she declared. She kissed Mia’s mom on each cheek, and then Mia’s mom took a moment to properly introduce each of us. Mona made a special effort to greet each of us, complimenting our looks or outfit and saying how happy she was to have us in her store. I wasn’t used to salespeople being so nice. Usually they just rang me up or opened the dressing room door with one of those little keys.
“Follow me, ladies,” said Mona. “Let’s go back where we can be comfortable and talk about what you are looking for.”
“Wow,” whispered Katie as we followed Mona’s trim, stylish figure across the white wall-to-wall carpeting. “This is superfancy.”
I got a little nervous. It was fancy. And fancy meant expensive.
There were gorgeous wedding dresses on mannequins and on racks on the walls, and more beautiful chairs and sofas and coffee tables with Kleenex boxes and oversize white binders that Mia pointed out as “look books.” Because they’d been here before to select her mom’s dress, and because her mom worked in fashion, Mia was very comfortable in the fancy setting. I noticed that all the salespeople were really pretty (prettier than most of the customers, which was kind of funny) and everyone spoke in hushed and ladylike tones. Like “indoor voice,” as we told Jake. I stood up straighter, and I was glad I’d taken Mom’s advice and dressed up for the occasion in a skirt and my ballet flats. This was not the kind of place to wear sneakers.
We settled into sofas and chairs around a table. There was a plate piled high with delicate sugar cookies, and there was a silver tea service. My grandmother had a tea set like that, but I had never seen her actually use it. I noticed there were a lot of tissue boxes around. I pointed at them.
“Oh,” said Mia, “that’s because the brides are so beautiful, everyone cries a lot.”
Mona assigned one assistant to dole out snacks to us, and another was sent to round up the rack of junior bridesmaid dresses. I noticed there was an entire row of mirrors so you could see yourself in all directions.
Mona’s assistant handed me two cookies and tea, and it was a little weird to eat while I was staring at myself in all the mirrors. Mia was so excited, she was jumping around. She went to help her mom put her dress on in the changing room and the three of us were left alone for a moment.
“Can you believe this?” whispered Katie.
“I’m never leaving,” I said, nibbling on a cookie.
“Hey, I wonder where they buy these cookies?” said Alexis, inspecting hers as if it would have a label on it. “We should ask Mona if they’d like us to supply them with cupcake minis—white cake with white frosting, of course.”
I laughed. “Look out, Bill Gates, there’s a new mogul in town.”
“Seriously,” said Alexis.
“Actually, it’s brilliant,” I said. “Why don’t you ask her? I would totally love to bake for her. Maybe we can drop off some samples for her next week?” All I could think of was coming back again.
“What’s up with the Kleenex everywhere?” asked Katie.
“I noticed that too!” I said. “Mia said it’s because brides make people cry.”
Alexis grabbed a Kleenex and pretended to mop her eyes. “Oh, honey, you’ve never looked so lovely!” she said dramatically. Sometimes Alexis could be really funny.
The dress assistant came back with a cart laden with white dresses that hung in plastic protective covers.
Then Mona came out and smiled as she watched us ooh and aah over the dresses. “Why don’t you each select two to try on, and then we can have a fashion show?” she suggested.
We didn’t need to be told twice. Katie went first, then Alexis. It was like playing “Princess for a Da
y.” Mona watched and laughed and clapped.
While Alexis and Katie tried on their dresses, I tried to poke around on the rack to see if any had price tags on them, but none of them did. I started to worry again. Then I just chose the two plainest dresses I could find and sat down and waited my turn.
While I waited, I picked up one of the look books that Mona had laid out for us. Mia explained that a look book was like a catalog. This one looked like a photo album, but all the pictures were dresses. It was filled with one beautiful dress after the other. Alexis and Katie came to peer over my shoulders.
Suddenly I stopped flipping. In front of me was the prettiest dress I’d ever seen, excluding actual wedding dresses, of course. It was white and the top was a fitted, T-shirt kind of cut with short, puffy sleeves. It had pleats cascading down that were tulle. I knew it was tulle because it was the same material as the long tulle tutu Mom made me one year for a recital. It looked like a fairy princess dress.
“Wow,” I said. “This is beautiful.” My heart actually fluttered; it was that great.
“I love it!” declared Katie.
“Love what?” asked Mia, coming out from her mom’s changing room.
Alexis smiled. “Emma has found our dress,” said Alexis.
“Let’s see!” said Mia eagerly. She rushed over. “No way,” she said solemnly. “I don’t believe it.”
She stood up and flung her arm out toward her mom’s door.
“What?” I asked.
“Here comes the bride!” sang Mia’s mom, emerging from the changing room.
I gasped. Ms. Vélaz’s dress was a nearly identical but grown-up version of the dress I had just found. It was like they were meant to be together. For a second I forgot about our dresses, though, because Ms. Vélaz looked so beautiful. Her dress was strapless, and her hair was pulled back. She looked really glamorous and not like a mom at all.
“Wow!” was really all I could say.
“Oh, Ms. Vélaz! You look like a . . . a . . . ,” cried Katie, suddenly speechless. Alexis nodded in mute agreement.
“A princess!” I said. And it was true.
Ms. Vélaz laughed. “I do just love it. It’s the prettiest dress I’ve ever worn.”
“And it looks just like the dress Emma found in the book for us!” declared Mia.
“Oh . . .” I was embarrassed. I didn’t mean to pick out everyone’s dress for them. Plus, if it was like Ms. Vélaz’s dress, then it was probably really expensive.
“Great!” said Ms. Vélaz. “I can’t wait to see it! Let me just get this pinned and I’ll come look.”
Mona swooped over, her mouth filled with straight pins, and while Ms. Vélaz stood on a carpet-covered box, Mona began nipping and shortening, muttering, “Divine, just divine.”
“It’s divine,” whispered Alexis, in a high voice. I tried not to laugh.
“Mona, I think the girls found another dress to try on,” said Ms. Vélaz, watching in the mirror as Mona worked.
“Patricia, please go look,” said Mona around a mouthful of pins. I wondered how she could talk like that. Patricia came over, and I pointed to the dress. Suddenly I hoped they didn’t have it. Or that at least it was very cheap. Or on sale. Oh no! What if it was a fortune?
“Oh yes, the Jumandra. So pretty. That might be in the shipment that came in this morning,” said Patricia. “Let me go look.”
My heart sank. Please let it be cheap. Please let it be cheap, I repeated like a mantra in my head as Patricia flipped through the rack of dresses.
“Here it is!” said Patricia. She plucked it from the rack and whipped the clear plastic cover off of it.
My heart fluttered again when I saw the dress. It was even prettier in real life! But I didn’t want to get my hopes up. And the decision wasn’t up to me anyway. But Katie, Mia, and Alexis all started yelling, “That’s it! That’s it!”
“You go try it on first since you found it!” said Mia generously.
“No, no,” I waved my hand. “You go first. Or maybe you don’t even want to try it . . . that’s fine!” I felt like a dork.
“Honey, Mia has tried on dozens of dresses already between her two visits here. You run and put it on. I know it will look lovely on you,” said Mia’s mom. “Go on . . . Patricia will help you.”
“Well . . .”
“Go!” commanded Alexis, and I was up off the couch like a shot, and into the changing room, practically ripping my skirt and sweater off in excitement. Patricia came in with me, which was a little embarrassing, but I just pretended that she was Mom.
As I was standing in my undies, Patricia carefully removed the delicate dress from its padded satin hanger, then cautiously she lowered it over my head. I poked my arms through, and Patricia buttoned me up. Then she gave me a pair of fancy satin shoes to slip on.
“Oh my gosh,” I whispered as I saw myself in the mirror.
“Your hair might look pretty down,” said Patricia. I pulled out my ponytail and shook my head. She was right. I felt like a fairy. Or a princess. Or a ballerina. Or all of them. It was a dreamy dress. A dream dress.
“Come out!” called Mia.
“How does it look?” called Alexis.
I almost didn’t want to go out there. Maybe, I thought, just maybe it wasn’t too much. But it had to be expensive.
“It looks terrible!” I joked through the door.
“What?” cried Katie in alarm.
“Kidding!” I said. I spun around again.
“Ready?” Patricia grinned at me.
And then, oh, what the heck, I nodded yes, and Patricia flung open the door.
“Oh my God!” said the Cupcake Club in unison.
“Oh my God!” said Mia’s mom.
CHAPTER 6
The Dream Dress
I felt like everyone came at me at once. Mia’s mom came bounding down from her pedestal, Mona and pins in tow. Patricia and the other assistant clustered around me, and they were all chattering at once.
“Oh, Mommy, this is it! Isn’t it?” cried Mia ecstatically.
“It’s glorious, and it looks spectacular on you, darling,” said Ms. Vélaz.
“Divine, just divine,” uttered Mona. (Did she know any other adjectives? I wondered.) Alexis giggled again.
“Come here, sweetie,” said Mona. I climbed up on the box in front of the mirror, and Mona started pinning the dress on me. She fluffed my hair, fluffed the dress, and then stood back.
“Perfect,” said Ms. Vélaz.
I could not stop smiling. I was so happy. It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, and it was the most beautiful I had ever felt. “It’s pretty great,” I said quietly. Then I remembered it was really more Mia’s day than mine. After all, it was her mom who was getting married. “Mia, why don’t you try it on?”
“Okay, but take one more minute. It looks so incredible on you,” said Mia generously.
Ms. Vélaz had disappeared and returned with her phone. “Let me take a photo and send it to your mom,” she said happily. “You look so fabulous.”
I didn’t think fast enough and the picture was snapped. Mia’s mom’s fingers flew over her keyboard writing the message to Mom. “What’s her e-mail address again?” asked Ms. Vélaz. I panicked. Now Mom would see the dress and know we’d found something for sure. She would ask Ms. Vélaz how much it cost. I had to think.
“Umm . . . I don’t know what her new one is since she switched jobs,” I said in relief, realizing it was true. “Why don’t you just send it to me, and I’ll show it to her when I get home?”
Ms. Vélaz glanced at me, then took down my e-mail address and pushed send as Mona returned to the room. The two of them stepped off to chat quietly, and Patricia led me back to the dressing room.
As I passed Mona and Ms. Vélaz, I heard the words “two hundred and fifty dollars.” I felt sick.
Two hundred and fifty dollars!
This was way, way worse than I had imagined. Okay, I thought. If they pick this dress
for sure, I’ll just excuse myself from being a junior bridesmaid. It was crazy beautiful, but whole families (mine!) could be fed for weeks for that kind of money. Dream dress indeed. I could dream about it, but I would never be able to afford it. “Good-bye, beautiful,” I whispered to the dress on its satin hanger.
I sat on the couch in a daze as one by one, all the girls tried it on and fell in love. It looked slightly different but equally amazing on all of us, just like the jeans in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I thought distractedly. By the time everyone had it on, the decision had been made. This was the dress. Oh no, I thought. What have I done?
Ms. Vélaz whispered to Mona about the dresses a little more. She turned to us. “Girls, is this okay with all of you? Are you sure your parents will be okay with this dress?”
Katie and Alexis nodded. “My mom is just happy I’ll be in a dress,” said Alexis, who almost always wore pants. For a second I was jealous of my friends. None of them seemed worried about spending $250 on a dress. They were acting like it was no big deal. I noticed Mia’s mom looking at me with a worried look. I started to sweat a little. I smiled, as if I was agreeing.
“Well, that’s the dress then!” said Ms. Vélaz. Then it was decided that the four of us ought to go put the dresses on hold up at the front desk, and we’d each come back with our parents to buy it. “If there’s a problem, just let me know,” said Ms. Vélaz. Mona nodded. I sighed with relief. On hold was different than sold. I might be able to figure something out.
The Cupcake Club followed Patricia the assistant out of the room and cruised soundlessly across the plush carpet to the front counter to fill out the paperwork. The store had filled up quite a bit, and there were groups of women and girls arranged all around in little seating clusters. Suddenly I spied a familiar shock of long blond Barbie hair. Sydney Whitman!